


Rotten Work

by kiwi_stan



Category: Nancy Drew (TV 2019)
Genre: Comfort, F/M, i have a final i should be writing but i wrote this instead, lots of comfort, the strong independent character letting themselves be taken care of is my kink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:08:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27929536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiwi_stan/pseuds/kiwi_stan
Summary: Everyone needs to let someone else take care of them once in a while. Set right after 1x18 ends, when Nancy sees herself falling off the bluffs.
Relationships: Ace & Nancy Drew, Ace/Nancy Drew
Comments: 7
Kudos: 78





	Rotten Work

**Author's Note:**

> I saw this tumblr post and it gave me Ace and Nancy vibes and I haven't stopped thinking about it since: https://soracities.tumblr.com/post/169231372828/sophocles-elektra-trans-anne-carson I really liked writing this so I hope you all like to read it too!

Nancy backed away from the edge of the bluffs, a scream caught in her throat. She wasn’t normally scared of heights, but having just seen herself plunging to her death, she was terrified. She stepped back a little further and sat down, suddenly feeling unsteady on her feet. Nancy glanced around. The bluffs were quiet and isolated at the best of times, much less on a cold, dark night. She didn’t think the Aglaeca could actually hurt her, not now, but suddenly she realized she did not want to be alone right now. 

Before she even realized what she was doing, she had dug her phone out of her coat pocket and was dialing. Ace answered on the first ring. “Nancy, are you okay?” He asked, sounding like he was trying very hard to stay calm. 

“Did you just see something?” 

Ace was quiet for a moment. “Yeah. At the Claw. It was...bad.” His voice broke a bit on the last word. He didn’t even need to ask Nancy if she’d seen anything too. They knew how the portents worked now, coming to all of them all at once. “Where are you?” 

“The bluffs.” 

Nancy heard a door slam shut on Ace’s end. “I’ll be right there. Five minutes.” Ace hung up and Nancy realized she’d never actually asked him to come. Ace had somehow read her mind over the phone. 

She sat alone for what felt like hours, but was probably actually less than five minutes. The waves crashing below sounded threatening now and the wind seemed colder and meaner. She felt markedly safer the second she saw headlights appear on the road behind her. Ace parked haphazardly and ran out toward her, leaving the engine running and his door open. “Are you okay?” He asked, looking down at her. Ace didn’t ask what she’d seen, which Nancy appreciated, but she caught him eyeing the distance between her and the edge and figured he’d guessed. 

“Yeah. I just, I guess I got scared.” She didn’t need to elaborate. Ace had probably seen something just as bad, possibly even worse, though she noticed he wasn’t being quick to offer up information either. “Sorry I called you here.” 

“No, it’s okay. I’m glad you did. I was scared too.” Ace shivered as a particularly strong gust of wind blew. “Let’s get you out of the cold. I’ll drive you home?” Ace’s voice held a question, like he wasn’t sure if Nancy would want to go home. Which was valid. She didn’t particularly want to see Carson, but she didn’t really have anywhere else to go. And after what she’d just seen, she thought that sleeping in her own bed underneath the glowing stars on her ceiling might be the only way she’d get any rest. She shrugged, which Ace seemed to take as a yes. “Don’t worry about your car. I can take care of it in the morning. And I’ll get you some hot chocolate or tea or something. You’ve been out in the cold a while.” 

“You don’t have to take care of me like that. It’s a lot of work for you.” Nancy stood up without waiting for Ace to offer to help her. 

Ace caught her arm before she could start heading for her car. “It’s not. Not if I’m doing it for you. You’ve been through a lot Nancy. I want to take care of you a bit.” 

Nancy felt all of the stress of the past few days catching up to her. She suddenly felt exhausted. The portents were getting stronger and the Aglaeca was still out there. She would have to deal with that sometime soon. But for now, letting someone else handle things seemed incredibly appealing. Nancy let Ace keep his firm grip on her arm as he guided her to his car. She let him dig a blanket out of the trunk for her. She let him wrap it around her. She let him crank up the heat in the car. Ace took the long way back to her house, some old rock song playing quietly in the background. Nancy let the motion of the car relax her, taking her back to falling asleep in the back of the car on road trips as a kid and waking up to one of her parents shaking her and telling her that they’d arrived. Somewhere along the way Ace pulled into an open 24/7 drive thru and bought her a hot chocolate. By the time he pulled into her driveway, Nancy was actually feeling tired. 

She gave him a hug over the center console, enjoying being held and feeling safe. “Thank you, Ace.” 

He held onto her for a bit longer than a hug should normally last. “I’d do anything for you Nancy.”


End file.
